Young Writers Society

At first glance, it's just a town by a lake in the mountains of California. Evergreen trees loom over the remote land and the crystal-clear waters are home to fish and birds. The scent of fresh, crisp mountains mixed with pine needles is in the air as springtime comes - the snowy winter is finally over.

There's always been superstitions here in the town of Greenwood. The house on the hill is haunted, they say - one of the children burned it down, it was no accident. The forest can be treacherous - don't go out at night, a werewolf might get you. Be careful on the lake, for there is something in its freezing depths.

But the town knew of the dangers and so lived with them, day after day. Newcomers thought the citizens crazy or paranoid, but soon moved on and so they cared not. It was only when more than just the occasional person disappeared or a far-fetched tale came through - when creatures of shadow emerged at night and the wards and rituals of the townspeople no longer worked as they used to - that they started having to fight.

Rowan Thorne

She throws the deer in the back of her truck as she casts one last glance back at the never ending pines. Her bow that she used to catch the creature was already safely stowed in the pickup and the sun was setting low over the horizon. It'd been a good hunt - the buck had no less than five points on each antler.

She brushes a stray lock of copper hair from her face as she hops into the vehicle, revving up the engine. After double-checking her pistol is loaded and she has silver rounds, she starts the winding road back to Greenwood. One can't be too careful at night in the forest.

Once she gets back, she'll feed her horse, two dogs, chickens, and hawk. After that, she can rest. Rowan glances out at the rose-gold sky tinged with titian and the blinding white-yellow orb disappearing over the trees. She shouldn't be out this late, but she can handle herself. She didn't have to be concerned about others worrying about her, either - she knew the wild lands like no one else and, being a werewolf, didn't have to worry about many of the dangers normal humans would.

But, of course, things had been happening recently. People going missing, that kind of thing. It wasn't unheard of in Greenwood, but the shadowy forms were new, not the mention the quantity of people suddenly going missing a short time. There'd been three in the last two months alone.

Melven Thronburry


Melven snickered to himself in his lab, he also rode his bike along his paper route, delivering the news and such. Upstairs he was cooking himself dinner, and he was also having a clandestine meeting with the son of the family staying at the hotel. He turned his focus back to his work, he had almost finished the creation of an artificial human heart. He laughed and threw back his head, only to interrupt himself from cooking dinner to come downstairs and tell himself that he sounded like a supervillian and to stop it.

Melven handed out the last of his papers for the evening, and when he turned around to get back on his bike, he saw a shadowy figure in front of him, he felt his heart ripped from his chest as if he were miles away, he had not been paying attention. His body fell to the ground, and he quickly left a blood smear while he was still alive.

Back at his house, Melven left the basement, he looked silently at his wife, or at least himself as his wife, nodded and made a phone call to the police, he had been murdered. He knew that the investigation would only last as long as there were visitors in the town, but it was better to inform them nonetheless. He had had to report the murder of his son-self three times this month, as the local cultists could still us him even if he didn't truly die. The body fell each time, but Melven simply made another when the town no longer had guests, and everyone forgot about it. Melven didn't make a fuss about the shadowy figure, after all, most figures that kill children are shadowy, and while he did know the most about the town, he tried to stay out of supernatural affairs himselves.

As she drives back into town, she notices the commotion of the police. Slowing her car, she rolls down the window.

"What's going on?" she inquires.

"Melven got killed again," the officer answers.

"Ah." That'd been at least the third time that month that had happened. "Thanks, officer."

"No problem," he says as she starts back towards her house.

Thronburry and his magic. She sighs and turns on the radio.

About thirty minutes later she reaches her house. It's night by now and the waning moon rises overhead, casting silver light and eerie shadows over the fields. It's a bit late to be feeding the animals - she hadn't expected her hunt to take that long.

She unloads the deer and brings it inside. She already gutted and quartered it in the field, so all she has to do is throw it in the freezer after packaging it.

YI throws her line in, ignoring the police sirens in the distance. Probably MELVEN dying. Again. YI rolls her eyes as her fishing rod is yanked out of her hand into the water. "What the hell?" she mumbles. But, being a citizen, she knows that there was something down there. Out of the corner of her eye, YI sees a shadow. "Holy-" YI cuts herself off with a swear, packs her fishing gear (what was left of it) and dives into her pick-up truck. Time to get out of here.

Once she's got the deer all put away, she throws some scraps in with the dogs' food and guts a quail for her gos. All the while, she's humming a soft little tune.

Once her animals are fed, she goes outside and kicks up her feet on the bench on her porch, watching the moon rise.

Yi slams the gas pedal, making a squealing noise with a loud engine. She heard a louder growl. Not looking back, she shifts her gear to drive- having forgotten to put it off of park- and zooms away from the lake, leaving a trail of dust.

In a few weeks, the moon will be full. Time to shift.

But there's something in the wind. Something is different, now; something's...wrong. She stands and starts down her driveway, running towards where she came from: the police scene.

Yi is stopped by a policewoman and told that she was speeding and that sort of crap. As soon as Yi escaped the police with a small fine for speeding, she drove up her driveway. Then she sees Rowen running towards a police scene. Yi gets out of her car and runs after her.

She glances up as she catches Yi's scent on the wind and turns. She can still smell the fear in the air - is that what drove her to leave her home? Had Yi been in trouble?

"Evening," she greets.

"H-hi," Yi gasps. "Where are you going?"

"Something felt...off. Are you alright, there, Yi?"

"I'm fine, but I saw something. You know how I fish, right?"

"Of course."